Christian I

Sacrifice of a Hacker

By C.G. Ishak

Prologue

It was the day I lost everything and the day it all went wrong. I had lost my parents and I was only a child and so nobody could take care of me. It started off as a normal day at Oakland IT School and it was a breezy, cold day. My mum and dad dropped me of at the silver door at the front of the school. Today felt like a good day but it wasn’t. The day went past in a flash even though I stayed late because of detention. I walked outside the door and I saw many parents hugging and kissing their children with great expression, though the children tried to make it less visible. And there I was waiting, waiting and waiting. 30 minutes went passed and I was losing my patience and so were the teachers. I saw it in their bland eyes.

“Where are your parents Luke?” Mrs Jenson the English teacher asked.

“Not sure?” I replied softly. It was getting late so I started to walk home. I was curious and was becoming a mini Sherlock.

Chapter 1: Detective Jackson

As I walk in front of the house I grabbed my key out of the front pocket of my bag. I inserted it into the door and turned it. I walked inside the cold concrete house and dropped my bag onto the floor and opened the small garage door. Mum’s BMW was still there but my dad’s Holden Ute was in the garage along with his Lamborghini Aventador. I walked further inside the house and saw a broken vase which looked like it was on a kitchen bench. Around the vase there were broken electrical cords and the vase bulb was sparking. Everything was getting kind of creepy. I then noticed on the table a computer with a fractured screen. I logged into the computer and hacked the hidden camera. There were no recordings from the past which meant no evidence. All it said was the time: 8:54pm. I ditched the computer and walked further into the kitchen. All I saw were some plates along with some of our ‘fancy’ cutlery. But then as I observed closer and spotted something shiny, a phone. I picked it up and swiped right. There was a video on it so I clicked on it. It comes up with a man in a cloak wear what looks like a balaclava.

“If you ever want to see your parents again or even have a clue of where they are, thencome to the Oakland-San Francisco port” the cloaked man in the video explained. I got a bag with my laptop in it containing my taser gun and ammunition. The taser gun shoots out electric volts of impeccable power. I had a bandana themed The Crack, and finally and most importantly, my phone. I set off walking down the hallway to my dad’s Lamborghini. I am 17 and have my P Plates. I press the button to open the garage and begin a long drive.

Chapter 2: Answers

It wasn’t very long to the port from my house especially when I was in a Lamborghini. It was about 9:30 pm and I was at the port. I looked around and nobody is there. All that could be seen was a dim street light next to an abandoned warehouse. I walked further down the port and noticed that I’m not going anywhere. I turn around and hear a thud. It was the guy in the cloak.

“What do you want?” I scream out at his cloaked body.

“Everything!” he yells out with a ghastly smirk on his face. I charge at him and he is just standing there in an evil manner. I hack his phone so he can’t make any moves against me. I get my gun and aim it at him. I push the trigger nothing happens.

“Ever heard of the electrical weapon hack?” he asks rhetorically. “Nah probably not, you are just a novice, maybe not even that,” he adds on.

“His phone must be hacker proof” I say softly to myself. The crazy man then shoots me. I dodge the shot with my impeccable reflexes. He then electrocutes my phone and I go to the ground. He then throws a toxic grenade at the floor and speeds off.

“See ya later Luke” he says dimly in an evil voice.

Chapter3: Coma – 7 Years Later

“Huh!” I take a big deep breath in as I wake up in a hospital room filled with about seven other people. “Where am I?” I ask myself. A young girl in her 30s hears me and comes over in a big rush. I small the hospital food waft into the room.

“Huh, you’ve woken up. I thought you wouldn’t ever get up again” she says with dim excitement. “You are in a hospital. You’ve been in a coma for seven years. You are lucky to be alive. After a couple years we usually give up. But you were 17 and not even an adult, well technically” she explains in a fast manner and an excited tone.

“So I’m 24 now?” I ask.

“Technically” she replies. I get up but I am held back by the soft but strong hand of the nurse.

“We can’t let you up yet. We have to do some tests” she explains.

“Fine” I reply in annoyance. After about 20 minutes they finish running the tests on me. They give me my old clothes from 7 years ago.

“Maybe a little small” I remind her.

She puts the clothes down and gives me some mucky clothes. “Beware, they smell pretty bad” she says in a cautious tone.

“Hey its better than being naked!” I say in a humorous manner. I put the clothes on and walk outside with my bandana, laptop bag with my laptop in it. I have my taser gun, ammo, but no phone. I rummage through my laptop bag but still no phone. I get my laptop and put my special phone number in it. It comes up and says it’s only a street down. I run down to that street and go into the dark lane where my laptop directed me.

“Ah, my phone I say in relief.” I grab my phone as the cold winter breeze hits me right in the face. I feel like somebody is behind me, watching, so I grab my gun and aim it in front of me. ‘What?’

Chapter 4: @N0nym0u2

1 hour later in the @n0num0u2 hideout.

I wake up in a flash.

“Where am I?” I scream out.

“Holy, he’s awake” I hear a 20 year old girl yell out.

“Do you think we should take the bag off?” I hear a man ask.

“Ah, duh, yeah” the girl replies in annoyance. Two people take the bag off my head.

“So you crazy people, where am I?” I scream out.

“You are in the @n0nym0u2 (Hacker name for Anonymous.) hideout” the jerk replies.

“Ah, I remember you guys. You’re the people who exposed the president for doing dirty work. By the way you were totally cool about how you handled that. you really gave to him” I say in happiness.

“Your not gonna hurt me, right? I’m just a boy, or well was just a boy” I corrected myself.

“No, no, no” the girl refers to me. “We are very proud of you. We’ve seen your hacker credentials. So your parents were hackers, right?’ she asks as she adds onto the matter.

“Um, yeah,” I reply mumbling up my own words. I notice one of the hackers with a smirk, a very suspicious one too. I ignored it.

“So were gonna recruit you for we like you and think you can do a lot of good for society and the freedom of San Francisco” the girl explains to me.

“Wait! I’m in San Francisco?” I ask in disbelief.

“Yep!” she says, excited. “Well let’s get started” she adds on.

Chapter 5: The Guide to the Hacker Force

“Now there is this company called Sky. It breaches public security and we need to shut it down. And because of this, people are dying. Your medical records determine if you possess a disease it is worth treating. And this is all happening under the noses of the government and the president. I could go on for hours explaining” the girl explains to me.

“That’s disgraceful” I reply after this long explanation. “Anyway, what are your names?’ I ask.

“I’m Amanda, this weirdo is Oli” she says pointing over at the man by the computer. “And finally, this smart guy is Rex” Amanda says pointing at the man working on the equipment.

“Welcome to the crew man!” Oli says in an honorable tone.

I feel crowded with happiness. I hadn’t felt this much since I was with my parents. We would always play around with the TV and eventually we would find one movie to watch for the night. They was the good times.

“Ah, we got something!” Oli screams out at us trying to grab our attention, dragging us over to the screen. “It says something called, The Guide to the Hacker Force. It’s a chip” Oli explains to us.

I feel like telling them about what happened to my parents, but I just can’t find a way to tell them.

“It’s me, I mean ours” I scream out correcting myself. I get some new clothes, my taser gun, my phone, bandana, and computer. I set off sprinting out of the hideout.

“Whats the password?” I ask.

“We R @n0nym0u2” she replies.

“Um, too long” I suggest. ‘Maybe 1234’ I nominate. I set off running down to the @nym0u2 car which was an Audi R8, just like Amanda’s car. I get down near the location. It comes up as restricted on my @n0nym0u2 map. I park the car. I put my bandana on, get my taser gun out and crouch behind a wall. One of the guards spots my movement and he scopes his gun.

“Guys, guys!” he screams out. I shoot him with my taser gun.

“That’s not gonna be in my conscience” I softly say to myself. I hack another phone and it distracts him. I then taser him in the back. He goes to the ground.

“2 down, 1 to go.” I tell myself, relieved. The last guard is manning the door to the chip. I have my eyes on the prize and he has his eyes looking for me. There is really no way out of this I say to myself. He gets his gun ready to shoot.

“Wait!” I yell hoping that isn’t my last word. ‘I surrender, okay!’ I add.

“Put your hand where I can see them!” he also screams out. I put my hands behind my head with my phone in my sweaty right hand. I hack his phone and make it ring.

“You might wanna get that” I tell him in great urge. He gets his phone out of his pocket. Zzzzzzz! He gets electrocuted. He goes to the ground. “Easy” I say in relief. I open the door to the chip. There is a dramatic dim light and then as I go to grab it. And then notice, I’m not the only one going for it.

Chapter 6: Into Darkness

I turn around and see a figure and it’s the cloaked man, the one who took my parents.

“Who are you?” I yell out.

“Your worst nightmare” he dramatically replies. “Now give me the chip” he adds on in a demanding tone, holding onto a phone. He turns the phone on. It was my parents, I couldn’t believe it. They were still alive.

“Now give me the chip or your parents die. If you send for help from the hacker force, then they dead. Wow, lucky, lucky boy you are” he says in a dark, mind twisted manner.

“Shut up!” I yell back out at him.

“Give me the chip and you can get your parents back, easy peasy” he says, in a bribing tone.

“Don’t give it to him!” I hear Oli and Amanda scream loudly in my ear. I turn my communications off.

“Never!” I yell out at him.

“Well say goodbye to your parents” he adds on.

I have a tear going down my face. He gives me the phone. “Mum, Dad?” I ask with my heart slowly cracking inside.

“Yes son!” they reply in happiness.

“Just so you know, I love you” I tell them.

“I love you too” they replied.

“Listen, he says he’s gonna kill you. You can fight him. I know you can” I say trying to urge them to fight back.

“It’s too late son” they both say at the same time. His henchmen get out and put gas masks around their faces. They both press the button to trigger the toxic gas from their mouths.

“No, no, no, no, no, no!” I scream out at the top of my lungs. I started to cry and the screen goes blank.

The cloaked man starts to run. “You have no one to blame, but yourself.” He runs off into a car. The car alarm turns off. I am too broken to chase him. Sadness and rage run through my brain. I could just kill something. I can’t let this make me go into a full rage but I might have to.

“Luke, Luke!” I hear Oli and Amanda scream in my earphones that are lying on the ground. “Did you give him the chip?” Oli screams out.

“No, no. I didn’t. But he killed my parents, I didn’t tell you, they were sent to something called the Hacked Force. They killed them. I saw it with my own eyes!” I stamp on the earphones, breaking them into little pieces. I just lay there, heartbroken, holding the chip in my hand.

Chapter 7: The Battle-Zone.

“Luke, Luke!” I hear Amanda’s voice coming out of my phone. ‘I’m sorry, you have to get up, somebody could just come up and kill you, instantly.”

“Just let me lay hear” I tell Amanda in a sad and hoarse voice.

“Okay. I’m just gonna have to come pinpoint to your location and come and get you” Amanda says in annoyance.

15 minutes later

“Huh, get up man, you weigh a ton” I hear Amanda say, tired and losing her breath. ‘I know its bad man, you can lay down and be as sad as you want at the hideout’ she says sympathetically. She gets me up and throws me down into the passenger seat of her Audi R8. She starts to drive back to the hideout.

“Hey buddy” I hear Oli say softly. “You’ll be okay I guess” he adds on.

I lay down on the couch, reflecting about my last moments with my parents. “Huh! Wait!” I scream out at the top of my lungs. “Hey Oli, do you reckon you can pinpoint the location of the phone that he was using so I can get close enough to the location and find out who the real culprit is and make him pay for what he’s done to me, and maybe I can say a real goodbye to my parents?” I ask in great excitement.

“Wow, wow, dude, calm down, and of course I can. I’m Oli” he says, honorably. “But, I might need some help. Where is Rex?” Oli says staring at Amanda, trying not to offend her.

“I’ll help you with that” Amanda says, instinctively. “And if this guy is related to Sky then we can kill 2 birds with one stone” she also adds on.

“Perfect!” I say. I run off to the battle-zone hoping for the best. “This guy has to get what he damn deserves” I say softly to myself.

I get into the first car out there, which was Oli’s.

“Hey Oli” I say into the microphone. “Can I take your car for a…. spin?’ I ask.

“Fine” he replies. “Just don’t scratch it. It’s precious to me’ he adds on.

“Got it” I say not even paying attention. I drive off.

“You working on it?” I ask Oli and Amanda.

“Y-yep, done” Amanda says, under pressure.

“We make a good team!” I hear Amanda say dimly in the background. I get to the location quickly and hack into the cameras.

“Hey, guys, I’m in” I say.

“Good” Oli replies.

“Wh-what? This is a different dimension, its scientifically impossible. This camera number is out of range. Hey, Oli, what earth or dimension has the camera number 65987?” I ask.

“Um, it’s a different multiverse. We didn’t even know if the one Multiverse was real. It’s called HackerVerse” Oli says, mind blown. I feel faint with amazement. I focus and start looking at the camera. I notice the spot where my parents were fatally killed. But then I notice in the background. It’s them, and there were lines in them. I couldn’t believe it for this meant that they’re still alive.

“Hey Oli, Amanda, my parents, they were alive the whole time” I say in great excitement.

“It was fake. What was it? A dummy? ” Oli says excited.

“It was a hologram” I say.

“Wow, that is state of the art technology. They aren’t even created on earth yet, well the real earth. Hey anyway, do you have that chip, that’s says The Guide to the Hacker Force?” Oli asks.

“Yeah I do, but its back at the hideout. I’ll come back to the spot, put the location on my map” I tell him. He adds it to my @n0nym0u2 map. I go back to the hideout ready for action

Chapter 8: Mask Off

15 minutes later.

I walked into the hideout feeling chilled out and ready to get the chip. As just as I walked in there he is, the cloaked man with a gun, pointing it at Amanda and Oli’s head.

“What?” I scream out, jumping scared. “What do you want?” I scream out.

“It’s funny” he says. “Funny how you haven’t found out who I am.” He takes his hood and balaclava off. It was Rex.

“Rex!” I scream out. “Why?” I ask in great perplexity.

“Because you all think you are good and passionate about hacking. I had a plan Luke. My plan was to make Sky gain your trust and kill all of you. Simple as that” he says in a twisted voice.

“And why me? What did I do and what did my parents do?” I say pointing at Oli and Amanda.

“Because I had a plan for you too, so I had to draw you in and take your parents so you would be inspired to start and come here to @n0nym0u2. I could take you, raise you as my own and you could reach your true hacking potential, your dark side and what you were born to do. You know I started @n0nym0u2, not these two wimps.”

“Shut up!” Oli yells at Rex.

“Ah, I would watch your language man. I will shoot you and your girlfriend” Rex threatens.

Amanda has a smirk on her face. “She’s not my girlfriend!” Amanda’s smirk fades off.

“Now give me the chip!” Rex demands. I pulled my phone and from my back pocket. I hack his phone so it’s not going to work. I had no plans of how to get out of this. I go over next to him with my hands behind my head.

“I’m on your side now!” I say to Rex. ‘I want you to get me to my full hacker potential.” I go next to him and I wink at Amanda and Oli so they know I’m faking it.

“Now, would you like to do the honors of killing them?” Rex asks evilly.

Yes I would. I get his gun. “Can you go get some of my stuff from the back?” I ask him. He walks over to the back of the room where he can’t see me. “Hey guys,” I whisper to Oli and Amanda. I’m gonna shoot, you play dead okay. I shoot the gun at the roof. Oli and Amanda play dead. Rex goes right next to me, I hand him the chip and the gun. We get transported to the new universe.

“This looks cool!” I say to myself. We walked up to one of the towers. Rex transports himself into one of the towers and it must have been where my parents were.

“Hey, Oli, are you seeing this?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah I am” he replies. “It’s unbelievable.”

I go into the first tower and get my bandana on and get my taser gun. I hide behind a corner of one of the walls. There is a guard. I try to hack it but it is hack proof, obviously. I feel like there is something or someone behind me. I turn around hoping it’s not who I thought it was.

Chapter 9: Hacker Towers.

I turn around and it’s another guard. I punch him in the face and put my hand on his mouth. I grab his communication phone and his handgun.

“Everybody this is your new leader, Agent Jonstan, and I command you to get out of the building. I repeat, get out of the building. There will be many casualties that I can handle with my colleagues. I repeat once again, get out of the building.”

I hack into the cameras and see many guards running out of the building. I hack into another one of the cameras and see Rex sitting there with one guard standing in front of him. I take a lift to the top level of the tower. I get there in no time. I see Rex and his body guard. I corner one of the walls and shoot the guard’s handgun at the body guard’s feet. He falls over and I throw in a smoke grenade that I also stole and run in. The smoke clears away after about 45 seconds.

“You!” Rex screams out at me. I put my knee down on the guard’s face knocking him unconscious. It was just me and Rex, no one else, our weapons, computers and guns, that’s all. There is so much pressure that I can barely deal with it. I was going to try and quickly shoot him but the time went right passed. I didn’t think I was ready for this.

Chapter 10: The Duel

I was standing there in front of my nemesis, the one who stole my parents and threatened to kill my best friends. He is standing right in front of me.

“It’s just you and me Rex. It’s over and if I die, you are coming right down with me. Now you can just give me my parents and we can end this, simple as can be” I say trying to negotiate with him. He points his gun at me and I get mine out. He starts shooting. I get around the corner. It felt like he had unlimited ammo and I have 1 shot at him. I reload and start shooting. I get over the wall and try to hack his phone. It’s not hack proof but it is really hard to hack into. I throw the smoke grenade at him. He’s blinded and I go up in front of him and kick him in the face. He kicks me in the stomach, my weak spot. He gets up and I shoot him in the leg. He carries on and I kick him in the face again. He is on the ground and grabs his phone.

“You go any closer I will blow this building up and, oh, many people will die including you and me.”

I put my weapon down. He walks away into the door but doesn’t realize I have a taser gun as well as the hand gun I stole. I get it out and aim it at his head and shoot. He goes to the ground but is not electrocuted. He had armor on his head. I have blood running down my chin from my mouth near the scar he made during our first encounter. I countlessly punch him in the face.

“Where are my parents?” I scream out at his wrecked face.

“Where are they?” I scream at him again.

“I will never tell you!” he says softly and dramatically. He tries to grab his phone and I shoot it.

“Try anything funny I’ll shoot you and you will never breathe again” I threaten him.

“There on the top level, the secret one. You’ll never find it” he says to me.

“Where is the secret lift?” I ask him.

“Your hacking skills will show” he dies on the floor right then and there.

“I didn’t like you as normal, … anyway” I say to his dead corpse. I had to find the secret lift. I go over to the centre console and search up Secret Lift. The console says it’s on the top level, the level I’m on. I ditch the console and scan the area. I find the secret level and go up it, hoping for the best.

Chapter 11: Sacrifice of a Hacker

I go up the secret elevator and search for my parents. I scan to see if there was a secret door. There was, but there was a password for it. I quickly hack into the system, hoping nobody was waiting at the front door. I get my taser gun out because a guard was at the door. I punched him in the stomach and face and he goes to the ground. There were no other guards. All I see is another centre console. I search up Hostages. It comes up with my parents and I go to the location. There they were standing there. I get them out and I pick hack the electronic guard. I get them out and then I feel a rock. I couldn’t even say anything to them and there was already a problem.

“Guys, I think there is a bomb in the building!” I say to mum and dad.

“No, son. When somebody is captive in the Hacker Force for so long, the only way to get out is to replace them!” Dad explains to me.

“I’ll be the replacement. You know how to get home right?” I ask them.

“Yes” they reply together at the same time.

I give mum a hug and a big kiss on the cheek as this might be the last time I ever see them.

“See ya dad” I say my heart cracking. I love you and you were my biggest inspiration” I say. “I’m sorry but you have to go!” I say hoping I never would have had to say that. I give mum and dad the chip. They teleport back to normal earth. I step back into the little hacker jail, where he kept my parents. I turn myself in and the towers stop shaking and there is no more lightning striking. I knew this was my destiny and this is what I was born to do and this is the sacrifice of a hacker.